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April-June, 2011

A Katrina Experience

by Rev. Mary Beth Ellis

I was on my way out of New Orleans with 25 cents, a rescued Doberman pinscher I barely knew (full of stitches from an operation), and a cell phone that no longer worked. Katrina was bearing down. The skies were ominous, the rains had started, and the wind was blowing the water up on the Bonnie Carrie spillway, where I was trying keep my tiny Honda Insight from giving in to the hurricane forces that were bearing down on me.

I was too much on adrenaline to register my fear, and many years of learning to buffer out rough situations had come to my rescue. I was just going one wheel turn at a time. Even when the spillway en route to Baton Rouge flooded out and the police turned us all around and headed us back into New Orleans, I just went on automatic and drove the Insight where the authorities were directing us. I couldn’t let myself consider the results of a Cat 5 storm in a city surrounded by lakes, swamps and the Mississippi River.

When, after 8 hours of 25 mph caravanning with hundreds of thousands of others, I needed to stop, the police were blocking the down ramps of every town between the “City that Care (but not Katrina) Forgot” and my Shreveport destination. The ride usually took 5-6 hours. It took me 18 on that Sunday. At least I got there. I had seen many cars which had just run out of gas on the side of the road, there being no way to buy any, since no one would let evacuees come into their towns.

I had wanted to leave on the Saturday before the storm, but they needed us to stay late at work, and I was way too physically heat exhausted at 9:00 p.m. to do anything but crash. I had tried to get money, too, but Whitney Bank’s ITM machines were empty. Since it was a regional bank, I would not be able to access any resources for many weeks. I had tried to be wise, but every venue was blocked.

At least Sucre the dog and I had a place to spend the night in Shreveport and Dallas, on our way to Oklahoma City. If my companion hadn’t bit my gracious cousin host on their first encounter, all would have gone well. But it had apparently all been just too much for her. At least she was in touch with her feelings! I was in la-la land, not even giving a thought to the fact that I could have lost everything I had worked for during my many decades of teaching. Anyway.

I would watch the devastation on television when I wasn’t on the road, and it was like a horror movie. I was totally out of touch with my feelings. I was connected enough to look for jobs in Oklahoma City, but I hadn’t let myself think about the fact that my new Salvation Army clothes (I had left with two changes and one pair of lime green shoes) and new Red Cross apartment in which Sucre and I would spend the days, might become a way of life.

Looking back on it, it seems like a miracle. An Oklahoma minister overheard me say that I was evacuating and gave me $50.00. Almost everywhere I stopped to eat, someone heard me tell the waitress that I was a Katrina evacuee and paid the bill. My Honda Insight made it all the way to Shreveport (18 hours) on one tank of gas. The pet boarding place where I had to take the rescued Doberman didn’t charge me. Strangers in Oklahoma City completely furnished my Red Cross apartment. My long lost cousins let me spend every night at their house, because after 11:00 p.m. things got a little rough around my new abode. People gave me clothes, the school board gave me a job, and I was totally provided for in terms of survival and a sense of well being.

I will forever be grateful to the endless spirits who looked out for me during the whole Katrina crisis. I feel like Holy Spirit sent them my way. Now that I look back on it, Holy Spirit comforted me and protected me from the fear of the whole event.

Now, if I could just go through the hurricanes that I create in life with the knowledge that everything is okay. It is always okay. Whatever I dread, fear, and run from can be dealt with one minute at a time. Like my destination of Oklahoma during Katrina, my destination in life is toward enlightenment. The journey may look bleak at times. It may seem like the waters of adversity are drowning out the road. It may look like I am blocked out, that I lack a sense of direction, resources, or the personal ability to get there, but all I need be concerned with is the present moment.

I need only ask Holy Spirit to help me see the path. My Insight will then carry me. And then I’ll see that I never really left. On the one hand, even the nightmare of escaping life’s Katrinas can be negotiated. We have only fear itself to deal with. On the other hand, the storms of life are churned up by our own lack of vision. We see through a glass darkly, but then we see the Light face to face. We can always leave the hurricanes we create, because they are never a reality. They are just news stories on our personal televisions. We can turn off the program by applying the principles of Truth. We are the creators of our world. “Nothing I see… means anything… I have given everything I see… all the meaning that it has for me.” (W-pI.1,2).

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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